1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a computer implemented method, a data processing system, and a computer program product for enabling and disabling network hardware. More specifically, the present invention relates to a computer implemented method, a data processing system, and a computer program product for remotely enabling and disabling network hardware based on a hardware reservation process a usage history of the network hardware.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a large computing environment, electrical power is consumed in great quantities. Systems are left on and unused, sometimes for extended time periods. Electricity is used to keep the computers powered on, and to power the heat pumps and air conditioning units that must constantly run to compensate for the huge amount of heat that is put out by the abundance of computers. This results in a huge cost to the organization operating the computing environment.
While manually powering-off systems may be a practical solution to this problem, often times it is not the most optimal or cost-effective solution. With the popularity of working from remote locations, systems often need to be made available for remote access from anywhere by a person at any time of day. Thus, in many computer laboratories, thousands of physical systems and virtual systems stay powered on for use a variable times, even though the systems may be idle for extended time periods. An effective management of system power usage that still allows for remote access to the computer systems would result in monetary savings that would otherwise not be possible.